The breathtaking action continued in the Indian Premier League 2023 on Sunday, April 2 as Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore locked horns with each other in Match 5 at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The home side came out on top in the encounter as they beat Mumbai Indians by a massive margin of eight wickets.
Losing Skipper, Rohit Sharma said:
Didn’t have a great start with the bat in the first six overs. But, it was a really good effort from Tilak and a few other batters. But, we didn’t execute well with the ball. It was a good pitch to bat on. (On Tilak Verma) He is a positive person, quite talented as well. Some of the shots he played, showed a lot of courage. Hats off to Tilak to get us to a competitive total. It was a good pitch to bat on. We didn’t set any target but we didn’t even bat to half of our potential and we got to 170. Probably 30-40 runs more would have been ideal. From the last six to eight months I am used to playing without Jasprit Bumrah. Of course this is a different setup but someone needs to put their hand up and step up. We can’t keep dwelling on it. Injuries are not in our control, we can’t do much about it. The other guys in the setup are quite talented as well. We need to give them that support. Just the first game of the season, there’s a lot to look forward to.
Winning skipper and Player of the Match, Faf du Plessis said:
Nice to start the way we did. In the powerplay, Siraj had the tail up and he set the tone. Right through the innings, our bowlers stuck to the plans. Obviously last 2-3 overs something to improve on. And that second innings, if you want to know how to chase a target, well, that’s how you do it. If you took pace off the ball, it wasn’t too easy to play and there was something in it for the spinners but as a batter if you got into good positions you could score runs. My first time playing here as a home player and it’s a special player, especially batting with Virat Kohli. Energy bounces off him. You have to stay with the youngsters, I still work hard to be able to move around like I could in the young days. The confidence this gives, all of us are confidence players. This start will be huge for us as a team.
